a very warm welcome to bbc news. my name's mike embley. if you're watching in the uk, on pbs in america or around the globe. our top stories: italy in lockdown. public gatherings forbidden, tourist sites virtually deserted and doctors give stark advice to the public. stay at home and be prepared for a kind of war, because we are facing a war now, here. in the us, a one—mile containment zone is now in place around a large cluster of cases. joe biden deals another blow to bernie sanders in the latest round of the us democratic party's primaries. just a week ago, pundits were declaring this campaign was dead. now we are very much alive.

and president putin has backed amendments that could see him stay in power until 2036. hello to you. italy has been spending its first night under lockdown, unprecedented measures are being enforced right across the country to try to limit the spread of coronavirus. as the number of cases and deaths rises sharply, italy faces growing isolation, with thousands of flights cancelled and stringent controls on its borders with austria and slovenia. public gatherings and sporting events have been cancelled. mark lowen has the latest. people have been told to stay—at—home. "all residents stay at home", orders the police.

from naples in the south to the supermarkets of rome, to the financial capital up in milan, news of the restrictions spread as fast as the virus. in bologna today, they began to adjust to the toughest limitations since the war. public gatherings banned, bars and restaurants closed from 6pm, tables a metre apart, schools, museums and nightclubs shut. everyone is affected. italians, tourists, and expats living here, staying put as several airlines stop flights. well, obviously we won't be able to travel in the immediate future. we've been told we can only take trains between cities in italy for reasons of work or health orfor some extraordinary emergency and apart from that we must stay put, but that seems sensible. and another thing is they have put this limelight, or spotlight, on age groups

and it makes me feel really, really old. but i'm optimistic about it. moving around requires a form, which we also had to complete, allowing travel for work or health emergencies or to return home. we would have to produce it if asked. it says here that falsifying this document could lead to prosecution. never could people in italy have conceived of the idea that they would need this to be able to move within their own country. as we drove out, traffic seemed quieter. roads are open, though slovenia says it will close its border and austria has banned italians entering unless with medical certificates. we have come out of bologna now and we're on the motorway to rome and we haven't seen any police checks for the documents, so it's still not clear how these restrictions are going to be enforced. we pulled over and got through to a doctor in one

of the worst virus—hit areas. hospitals are near breaking point. we need more beds, more doctors, more nurses, because i think that in one to two weeks we will reach the top so if we will not have more facilities we will not know how to take care of the patients. we are facing a war now here. in rome, deserted tourist sites show the huge economic impact. the government now discussing suspending tax and bill payments to ease pressure. from inside the vatican, the pope led mass, urging priests to have the courage to visit the sick — a risky call. and often it's too late. even funerals are now banned, replaced with a restricted blessing. the virus is killing and taking italy's dignity with it. mark lowen with that report.

new york's governer has declared a one—mile containment zone around the northern town of new rochelle, thought to have the largest cluster of coronavirus cases in the us. schools and places of worship are to be closed for two weeks and the national guard has been deployed to clean schools and deliver food. president trump has urged americans to remain calm. we're prepared and we're doing a greatjob with it and it will go away. just stay calm, it will go away. we want to protect our shipping industry, our cruise industry, cruise ships. passengers have been disembarking from the cruise ship the grand princess, which has finally docked at the port of oakland. chris buckler is therefore us. —— there for us. it has been a very, very long process. hundreds have now disembarked, including the british holidaymakers who are now making their way back

to the uk. there will be a flight landing in birmingham wednesday afternoon uk time. it gives you a sense of the scale of what they have been trying to address here. the sickest, and those who have been diagnosed with covid—i9 have been taken to hospitals in the california area and they are being treated. as for the wider issue of how you deal with the coronavirus, that's something that the american authorities are still grappling with. for example, here in california they have done their best the sickest, and those who have been diagnosed with covid—i9 have been taken to hospitals in the california area and they are being treated. as for the wider issue of how you deal with the coronavirus, that's something that the american authorities are still grappling with. for example, here in california they have done their best to basically try to ensure there aren't gatherings of 1,000 people or more. it has led to sports events being cancelled, it has led to concerts being cancelled, and on the other side of america, on the east coast, in new york state, in new rochelle, they have put in place a containment zone. they have the national guard cleaning schools, cancelling schools, it gives you a real idea they are trying to tackle this problem.

but at the same time, you do get the impression from health officials that it will take something to address this properly. it is a tough, tough issue. they now have got testing kits, they have now got resources, but ultimately, what they can do to try and stop coronavirus spreading is a real issue for the authorities. chris buckler in oakland for us. chris mentioned the containment zone around the city of new rochelle. thank you for having me. we have had a long day here in new rochelle and the governor of the state has declared a containment zone of about a mile around about the area where the virus was first affected — first person infected. what that means it's people will be able to go on with their lives but large gatherings at any schools, synagogues, churches or places like that will not be allowed

for two weeks. so we are working with the state to try to implement what they have put in place and our residents are trying to be as cooperative as they can. and how are people dealing with this? well, i think they are a little concerned because people here, when they hear "the national guard", they think of a lot of different things. but as you said earlier, in this case the national guard has been deployed to help deliver food and clean schools, not to be a military force. so hopefully we can manage cooperatively with the states so people in new rochelle understand what is going on. they should be able to live their normal, everyday lives, at least for now, and we hope it stays that way and things get back to normal as soon as possible. on that point, what is your feeling about this? is it your expectation, what's happening now in new rochelle will be happening in other states in the us pretty soon, quite possibly?

it's — and again, i'm not a medical professional but i would say it is likely that there are many, many more cases in the united states than we know. the more people that get tested, the more there will probably be positive cases. all i know is, in new rochelle we have 100 or so cases in our city of about 180,000 people and that is a scary thing for people. we are doing our best to calm everybody and let them know the state and local government, we have a state county here, and the local government are working cooperatively to address this is best we can. i'm going to interrupt you, i'm sorry. why do you think you have what is thought to be the largest cluster in the us? well, what happened was there was an index case — what they call the first person who got the disease, and he happened to belong to a synagogue in the northern end of our city, a synagogue of about 1,000 people. before he was symptomatic he went to a bar mitzvah, a funeral and their regular

services and that put him in interaction with up to 1,000 people and that is why it spread in that area as it did. that is the largest area in new york, based on the statistics we have from the state. so we are certainly working with them but that is way we think it's here. what's your feeling about the way the new york governor and the president have been dealing with this? the authorities in general? do you have enough testing kits there? well, i can only tell you that we have been dealing with the state government. we haven't been dealing directly with the federal government. it is clear in the us we need more testing kits, that is coming soon. the more people we get tested the quicker we can figure out who has this. i, as a local official, i'm not going to opine on who is responsible for the number of tests, but i hope the state and federal government together can come up with enough tests so we can test who we need to in this state, which is

obviously one of the largest in the united states. charles strome there in new rochelle. nadine dorries, a health minister in the british government has tested positive for coronavirus. she is self—isolating at home while health workers are trying to establish how she came in contact with the disease. on thursday, she attended a downing street reception hosted by the prime minister, borisjohnson. joe biden has taken a big step closer to clinching the democratic nomination. he is challenging president trump in november ‘s. —— november. joe biden is now projected to win the biggest prize of the night, michigan. senator sanders had been pinning his comeback on winning michigan, 125 delegates up for grabs there. mr biden addressed his supporters in philadelphia a short while ago.

just over a week ago, many of the pundits declared this candidacy was dead. now we are very much alive. tonight, we are a step closer to restoring decency, dignity and honour to the white house. that's our ultimate goal. let's talk to our north american correspondent, peter bowes. results still to come from idaho, washington and... considered saferfor idaho, washington and... considered safer for bernie sanders but may be all bets are off these days? they are still counting in washington state, where bernie sanders has traditionally done well. perfect territory for him, a very liberal west coast state, but it looks like he's running neck and neck with joe but it looks like he's running neck and neck withjoe biden at the moment and if it pans out, and even if it's a damp heat, thatis and even if it's a damp heat, that is still very good forjoe biden to do so well in a liberal west coast state like

washington, and very bad for bernie sanders, who needed a big win not only in washington but shouldn't especially, one of those states that come the general election in november will be a major battleground with donald trump, donald trump managed to win that state four yea rs managed to win that state four years ago, taking it back for the republicans for the first time since 1988 and the back joe biden has done well in that state, again somewhere previously bernie sanders has done well, again bodes well for the former vice president. peter, what's the analysis here of how people who lean towards the democratic party seem to be thinking when they're making these choices? i think the choice is... is it bernie sanders, who describes himself asa sanders, who describes himself as a democratic socialist using the word socialist that, when it comes to the general election, donald trump will really hammer him on because it seems to be a fact that across this country it is a very difficult sell. come the

election, remember the democrats need to win over some republicans who voted for donald trump last time around, it's going to be very difficult they believe now to elect bernie sanders. joe biden is seen bernie sanders. joe biden is seen as bernie sanders. joe biden is seen as the more safer candidate, he is a vice president, of course, he occupies that middle ground politically and it seems more and more democrats simply believe he is best placed to beat mr trump. peter, thank you very much that. do stay with us if you can on bbc news. whiskey the border collie, the smartest of all the dogs, she recognises each of the names of her toys. the numbers of dead and wounded defied belief. this the worst terrorist atrocity on european soil in modern times. in less than 2a hours then the soviet union lost an elderly sick leader and replaced him with a dynamic figure 20 years his junior.

we heard these gunshots in the gym. then he came out through a fire exit and started firing at our huts. god, we were all petrified. james earl ray, aged 41, sentenced to 99 years and due for parole when he's 90, travelled from memphis jail to nashville state prison in an eight—car convoy. paul, what's it feel like to be married at last? it feels fine, thank you. what are you going to do now? is it going to change your life much do you think? i don't know really. i've never been married before. welcome back. good to have you with us on bbc news. the latest headlines: the number of cases of coronavirus in italy are still rising, with the country

effectively on lockdown. in the united states, new york's governor has announced a containment zone around the town of new rochelle, which has what is thought to be the largest cluster in the us. this month marks five years since the conflict in yemen, civil war which has become a proxy war involving major world powers, the us, uk, saudi arabia and iran. fighting has intensified lately, and taiz in the south—west is at the centre of one of the longest—running battles. the city is split between government forces and houthi rebels. the bbc was given rare access to the government on side of the city. sneaking through shadows. slipping behind walls... we're taken to the streets in the line of fire.

taiz, city of snipers. one street, one lane is safe, the other is not. that's the nature of this shifting front line in taiz, dividing streets, dividing homes, shattering lives. this side of the wall in government hands. the other, houthi fighters. both sides shooting. the face of the front line drained of life. other streets shot through with danger. a short drive away, the first neighbourhood reduced to rubble when this war began. it's lasted longer in taiz than almost anywhere else in yemen. but in the safe spaces, life explodes.

children ambush the ice cream man. but they carefully keep to this road. they all know it's the safest route on their way home from school. gone from the skies for now, the rumble of saudi warplanes. taiz was one of the most heavily bombed areas, causing the most civilian casualties. often with british or american made bombs. this is my home. marwan remembers this air strike as if it was yesterday. ten members of his family perished as they slept in these rooms. eight neighbours died, too. life is still shattered five years on.

stuck in this stalemate. see the green scar slashing taiz in two? the houthis control the heights beyond there, a third of this city. the roads running through taiz, once bustling, are now blocked. to get from one side to the other you need to drive around the city, a perilous journey of six to eight hours. it used to take five minutes. ghalya nasa, blinded in one eye by a sniper, belongs to a women's group lobbying to end the siege.

there's still a pulse in this city. the pride taizes still feel in a place once prized for its culture. but it's a life lived on the edge. taiz, a symbol of yemen's conflict. it's torn a whole country apart. liz doucet, bbc news, taiz. that's quickly round up a bit of the other news for you. taliban prisoners may be released within days, suggesting talks with militants could soon again. this is to

lay the next phase of the peace process which began last month in the united states reached a deal with the telephone. police and venezuela have used teargas to use dominic stop thousands of anti—government protesters from reaching parliament. the prime minister called the demonstration —— venezuela's economic crisis has been worsened by the sharp falls in oil prices. two extremely rare white giraffes have been killed by poachers in north—eastern kenya. rangers found the bodies of the female and her calf in a village in garissa county. a third white giraffe is now still alive. conservationists believe it is now the only one in the world. russia's president has endorsed a plan which could see him in the topjob for life if it gets final approval. the proposal, introduced into parliament by an mp who is a close ally, as part of sweeping changes to the kremlin aimed at keeping mr

putin in power. in two years time, vladimir putin should be walking out of parliament. instead, he is backing a constitutional amendment which would allow him to stay well beyond his 2024 term. translation: in principle, this option would be possible, but on one condition. if the constitutional court gives an official ruling that such an amendment would not contradict the principles and main provisions of the constitution. six weeks ago the president announced sweeping changes to parliament. he said, for the good of russia. the proposal still needs a tick of approval from court and the public, but given his influence, it's set to cement his longevity in the topjob. mr putin, who is now 67, has been in powerfor 20 years. here he is about to cast his vote in the presidential election back in 2000. a vote he clearly won.

in 2008, he took a hiatus as president and served as prime minister for five years — by doing this, he avoided violating the current 2—term rule. the proposed changes, which are likely to pass, would mean he could serve for another 16 years at least. making him russia's longest serving and oldest leader. but not everyone in russia agrees. some lawmakers say it is illegal and a small crowd of protesters also expressed concerns. translation: the person who brought russia into chaos and disaster will remain in power for the rest of his life, given that he is in good health, it may be for a very long time. translation: putin, until2036, is just unthinkable. but as unthinkable as it may be for some, for the man in charge, it is the only way forward.

let's leave the politics and the disease for a moment. we are taking you to bergen in norway now, to meet whiskey, the border collie. this is whiskey, a six—year—old border collie. according to her owner, she's a genius. it's a bit like those parents who are convinced that children are geniuses. but perhaps helga is right. whiskey is able to identify the words for all of her 100 toys and fetch them when commanded. she attracted worldwide attention when an italian researcher published a report about her skills in a scientificjournal. whiskey's skills, of course, are the result of training. translation: when whiskey was eight weeks old, i bought her a toy mouse and a small ball. i threw the toy mouse onto the floor and said, "whiskey, fetch the mouse, fetch the mouse." after a couple of times she understood what to do.

but that shouldn't detract from her remarkable skills. following the academic report, whiskey featured in media all over the world. translation: it is great fun and quite odd to see pictures of whiskey and myself a chinese newspaper. i never thought that would happen. helga is sure there are many other dogs like whiskey. i think there may be many dog geniuses out there, with potential, but have not been discovered yet. at the very least they could do what your children never do — put away their own toys. still with dogs, two men and their labrador walked away unharmed when their small plane crashed into a tree in florida stopping the plane was heading for a small airport, and had engine problems which brought it down their houses. the father and son were heading to florida for spring break. that

it for now, much more anytime on the bbc website. thanks for watching. hello there. on tuesday we had a temperature of 16.5 degrees at kew gardens and in cambridgeshire, making it the warmest day of the year so far. for some southern parts of the uk, the air originated all the way from the azores, hence that bit of warmth. further north, the air is cooler and it's the cooler air that will win out over the next few days. these shower clusters are heading into the north—west of the uk. this band of cloud, all that's left of the earlier rain taking some patchy rain and drizzle southwards into the english channel but keeping temperatures up across southern england and wales. colder air further north, though, and lots of showers packing into scotland and northern ireland. and here we'll have showers or longer spells of rain on wednesday. some heavy bursts of rain and snow of the hills of scotland. some of those hours will be blown into northern england and wales. towards the south—east of the uk, they get away

with a dry day. it will be quite blustery out there, mind you, especially in those heavy showers and across the north—west of scotland, gusts of 50, maybe even 60 miles an hour. here, the air is a little bit cooler, but there's still warmth to be found across eastern parts of england, temperatures not far of what we saw on tuesday, 111—15 degrees. but it will get colder, i think, later on in the week. and we've got this weather front taking some wetter weather into england and wales on wednesday night. and it's behind that the area gets quite a bit colder and we see the snow level lowering on wednesday night in scotland and northern england. some icy conditions here as there could be in northern ireland as well. but the snow levels will rise, i think, on thursday. but we'lljust keep wetter weather piling into scotland and northern ireland, the winds strengthening as well and will blow some rain into the north—west of england. a few passing showers across southern parts of england and wales, they may get away with a dry day in the midlands. temperatures back to near where they should be for this time

of year as they cooler air arrives. that area of low pressure keeps wetter weather going across the northern half of the uk during thursday evening, that pushes away and we get a ridge of high pressure in time for friday morning. so, it's a chilly start, yes, the winds will have eased and most places will start dry and sunny. it won't be too long, though, before the cloud bubbles up and spreads throughout the day. and those temperatures are still quite healthy for this time of year, 8—12 degrees. that rain will push its way eastwards on friday night, we'll see more rain arriving in the north—west of the uk on saturday. that then sweeps its down way into england and wales and cooler air follows into the north—west on sunday with some sunshine and some blustery showers.

our top stories: italy is still in lockdown. more than 10,000 cases of coronavirus, with 631 deaths, the highest number of any country outside china. it has effectively self isolated, restricting travel, closing down schools and banning sporting events. schools and places of worship will be closed for two weeks in a suburb near new york in an effort to contain one of the biggest outbreaks of coronavirus in the us. the national guard has been deployed in new rochelle to help clean public spaces and deliver food. former us vice presidentjoe biden has extended his lead in the contest to become the democratic party candidate to fight mr trump in the election in november. of the six states taking part in the latest primary is, he's on course to beat senator bernie sanders in mississippi, missouri and the biggest prize of the night, michigan —— primary is.